Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Theo Croker’s Dream … Manifested!
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
Pianist Jay McShann with his band (circa 1940), including saxophonist Charlie Parker (third from left). This image is in a gallery posted at the MMFI website.
(Photo: Jay McShann Collection/MMFI)The Mutual Musicians Foundation International (MMFI) will hold a special event in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 16–18 to honor African American musicians who worked during the period of the 1930s to the 1970s. MMFI will hold an awards gala for surviving black musicians and performers of the “colored” unions begun by the American Federation of Musicians.
The foundation requests that all who may have belonged to a segregated musicians union (or were represented by a black organizer of the American Federation of Musicians) contact the foundation so that it can make arrangements for them to travel to Kansas City in June. Interested musicians should telephone (816) 612-0864 or send an email to this address: anita@mutualmusicians.org. The deadline is April 31.
The Mutual Musicians Foundation, once known as Local 627, or the “colored” musicians union, began March 2, 1917, as a charter of the American Federation of Musicians.
“We recognize that few people in the world know of the contributions of these segregated unions to art and culture in America, and many of these great musicians and performers are in their late seventies, eighties or nineties and are dying daily,” said Anita J. Dixon, executive director of the MMFI. “We want to bring as many [artists] as we can find to Kansas City, do oral and video histories and preserve the memory of their talents for generations to come.”
For more details about the Mutual Musicians Foundation International, visit its website or its Facebook page.
To record Dream Manifest (Dom Recs), Croker convened artists from his current and recent past ensembles, plus special guests.
Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”
Jun 17, 2025 11:12 AM
When it came time to pose for the cover of her new album, Lady In Satin — a tribute to Billie Holiday’s 1958…
James Brandon Lewis earned honors for Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Three of his recordings placed in the Albums of the Year category.
Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.
Jul 22, 2025 10:58 AM
Hal Galper, a pianist, composer and arranger who enjoyed a substantial performing career but made perhaps a deeper…
Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
Jul 29, 2025 1:00 PM
Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…
